John Warner: the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida is recognized. mr. nelson: mr. president, i'm mindful that the majority leader will be coming here in approximately

Bill Nelson: six minutes to speak, and i'm looking forward to his comments. and, mr. speaker -- mr. president, i -- i just want to say that one of the great delights of being a part of the senate is to sit at the

Bill Nelson: knee of such great leaders such as the senior senator from virginia and to learn from him and to hear the stories that so often he can weave into any circumstance that is facing us that has some application

Bill Nelson: of -- of a story that he had encountered in the past. and i thank him for his leadership. i thank him for his contribution contribution. and i thank him for being a mentor to so many of us in this senate.

Bill Nelson: mr. president, in the remaining moments here, i just want to say that one of the things that this senator will address in the next congress is the fact that we did not pass a water resources development

Bill Nelson: act which has so many important projects for this nation. we have not had a water resources development act bill since 2000 and we are suffering for it. and in this great ecological restoration project

Bill Nelson: down in my state, the florida everglades restoration project, there are two critical projects in the wrda bill: the indian river lagoon and the pick union -- and the picyune river strand. the indian

Bill Nelson: river, it's a 156-mile-long estuary that i grew up on as a boy. it runs from basically just north of cape canaveral all the way south to palm beach county. and it has been altered by unnaturally

Bill Nelson: large and poorly timed fresh-water discharges arriving out of the st. lucie canal. and they have altered the water quality and depleted the water supplies in the everglades ecosystem. and so that's one

Bill Nelson: project that's going to be necessarily addressed in the new congress. there are many components to that project and the everglades restoration is an $8 billion project over 20 years shared by the federal and

Bill Nelson: the state government. the other major project -- and i'll close with this, mr. president -- is the picyune strand restoration. it's going to remove roads and canals and other infrastructure to increase

Bill Nelson: the fresh-water flows. and it encompasses 94 square miles in collier county, florida. and it includes such things as the national panther wildlife refuge, the ten thousand islands and many others. and so

Bill Nelson: these ecosystem protections and alterations are absolutely necessary for the future of keeping this beautiful planet earth and protecting this very fragile ecosystem. and i thank my colleagues for allowing

Bill Nelson: me. and now we -- and as we're awaiting the majority leader to arrive, i might say that since many senators are here, i want them to know what a great privilege it has been for this senator to serve with

Bill Nelson: each of you and to serve in a bipartisan way. one of the messages of this election that i have just come through is that people don't want this partisan bickering that they've seen. they want us to

Bill Nelson: come together, to build consensus, to perform and to do it in a bipartisan way.~ and this senator is dedicated to doing that from now on. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: